On Tuesday, Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), introduced a sweeping Senate bill that seeks to significantly reduce federal government restrictions on medical marijuana. S.B. 683 would implement a number of reforms alleviating access for doctors and researchers. The most important change would reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, which is intended for drugs, like heroin, that have no accepted medical use in the United States, and place it instead in Schedule II, the classification for drugs that have a legitimate medical use but also have a “high potential for abuse.”

• Jurist offers a comprehensive overview of the proposed bill
• See the full-text at Congress.gov (forthcoming)
• Track the bill as it moves through Congress.

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